By Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist, State Archives of North Carolina Editor’s Note: This post is a slight update of information included in a post on Earlie Smith in the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources’ “North Carolina in WWI” blog. …

By Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist, State Archives of North Carolina William Banks Horton was born on November 1, 1879 [his birthdate is mistakenly listed as November 20 on his gravestone and other public records, but is handwritten by him in his U.S. Navy service records], in Corning, Kansas…

By Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist, State Archives of North Carolina When you work to organize and describe the papers and archival collections of individuals and groups, you try to understand the purpose of materials, in order to alert researchers about the items’ significance and preserve the history behind…

By Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist, State Archives of North Carolina Marshall Tigner Wiggins was born on August 10, 1904, in West Point, Georgia, to Sterling Pitts and Mary Augusta Tigner (who went by “Gussie”) Wiggins. Sterling Wiggins was a Methodist minister, who was serving at a church in…

By Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist, State Archives of North Carolina Editor’s Note: This blog post features a discussion of sexually-transmitted diseases and anti-venereal disease campaigns in WWII. It features some explicit content, which is not appropriate for younger readers. Viewer discretion is advised. One of the best parts…

By Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist, State Archives of North Carolina Editor’s Note: This blog post features a discussion of sexually-transmitted diseases and anti-venereal disease campaigns in WWII. It features some explicit content, which is not appropriate for younger readers. Viewer discretion is advised. One of the best parts…

By Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist, State Archives of North Carolina Everette Harvey Jones was born on April 4, 1923, in Raleigh, NC, to Otis Vance and Irma Camelia Swindell Jones. By 1930, the Jones family was living in Raleigh, where Otis Jones was working as a salesman at…

By Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist, State Archives of North Carolina Julius Reid Aldridge (who went by “Reid” and “Chuck”) was born on June 23, 1914, in the small community of Haw River in Alamance County, NC, to Joseph Andrew and Mary Cornelia Allen Aldridge. Joseph Aldridge was a…

By Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist, State Archives of North Carolina Editor’s Note: This blog post was previously published under the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources’ “North Carolina in WWI” blog, as part of the state’s 100th anniversary commemoration of World War I. …